Magento has a very extensible architecture that allows you to change your sites “look and field” by simply purchasing a new Magento theme for your version of Magento.
There are a few things you would have to do in order to get your theme to look right, but for the most part a properly designed site makes it easy to change themes quickly.
Some basic tips:
1.) Always always, always do the upgrade on a test server. Ask your hosting provider if they can provide you with a temporary server or simply spin up a small Amazon cloud instance. The test server prevents you from doing any potential harm to your product server.
2.) Keeping a notepad open and document all of the changes you’ve made to your dev site upgrade. Include any file or CMS changes you’ve made. This will save a tremendous amount of time when you push the upgrade to your live site.
3.) Make sure you test your site in every responsive view possible. For instance, do a cart checkout in a mobile, then in a tablet and then in a desktop. This will ensure that the user experience will be uniform throughout the process.
4.) Prior to applying your new upgrades to your production server, make sure you backup the production server. Most of the changes should be files, but in some cases some plugins may need to be install as part of the theme that could potential cause issues in your database.
5.) After launch, retest your site and have a second set of eyes help you.
Feel free to Contact the Magento Professionals to have your site upgraded today.
